Word: geller
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Still, his local following is intensely loyal, sponsoring raffles and fashion shows to benefit WVCA and sending in a steady trickle of contributions, which are not tax deductible. One listener shrugs off the work- sex slur, saying "Some people do both." Another says Geller has given so much to Gloucester he's entitled to knock...
What he has given is good music. More than 95% of his airtime is devoted to the classics. He does not waste precious minutes on "garbage," a category in which he includes news, weather, and the time, among many other things. At WVCA, Geller leads off a typical morning lineup with Camille Saint-Saens and Sergei Rachmaninoff back to back, followed by Richard Wagner. He has no knack for pedantry; it is enough to play the music. When a visitor asks the name of a piece, he replies, "That's a piano concerto by Bronsart, who you probably never heard...
Lobstermen sometimes tune in to hear Geller's unslick rendering of a commercial for Nichols Candies, a local retailer. Despite all appearances to the contrary, WVCA is a commercial operation or, rather, a listener-supported commercial operation. "I average three to six minutes of advertising a day," says Geller. "The rate is from $32 down." Most of his operating costs are covered by $10 and $20 contributions, which he acknowledges individually on the air ("My thanks today to Beverly, to Topsfield, to Rockport . . . And now let's get back to the music"). Fishermen flipping the dial pause to marvel...
...listen, there are these gems," says Kasimir Stachiewicz, a woodcarver on Main Street. Stachiewicz once called Geller to request a Bach partita. Then, not knowing whether Geller would play the request, or when, he decided to pay a visit. He climbed the stairs to the studio. Then he heard music: his request. Afraid to knock, he waited outside, hearing it faintly through the door...
...Bell concurs, more or less. "Befriending Simon Geller," he says, "is like befriending an extremely tough, seemingly tired, apparently less than healthy watchdog. Some days he'd let you pet him, and some days he'd bite. And he is so very tenacious...